First Impression
by Christian4Life
Summary: Jim meets a girl unlike any other. But there's more to her than meets the eye. my first fanfic. r&r plzz!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **

I do not own Treasure Planet. Only Cali...and other characters not from T.P. listed randomly in this lovely P.O.S. of a fanfic. This is my first fanfic ever. I except critisism under the condition that you're not completely rude about it. I already know it's a P.O.S. I don't need you to tell me the same thing paraphrased. XD

Anyhoo, this is just explaining how Jim and Cali met...basically...I guess...whatever just read: P

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"Mr. Hawkins!" shouted Mr. Landers, "Could you please tell the class what is so interesting outside?" he asked sternly.

"Uh, nothing sir!" said Jim respectfully, redirecting his attention from the window to the professor, "Forgive me sir, it won't happen again."

"Be sure that it doesn't." said Mr. Landers, continuing with some pointless lesson.

It was the middle of the first semester of his 3rd year at the Interstellar Academy and poor Jim could barely pay attention in any of his classes. He was too distracted from the event of the night before. It was like there was a broken record in his head, repeating over and over... "Sorry, but you're just not my type...I'm looking for someone with a little more – well more..." and it wouldn't shut up. The whole thing was starting to depress him. He had already told his friends about it and of course, like most friends would, they tried to cheer him up… but nothing seemed to work. After school they had to practically drag him to the student lounge. Instead of joining in on the latest rumor of the week or one of their games, when they reached the lounge, Jim just sat at the corner of a table near a window with his right arm leaning on the table and his head resting in his hand. The student lounge was usually empty, so it made a pretty good after-school-hang-out-spot for the guys. "The guys" consisted of Jim and about 15-20 of his friends, humans and aliens alike. If the solar-surfing-park was closed (which it usually was on weekdays) and there wasn't much else going on, they'd all head over to the lounge and play a couple card games, a game or two of arm wrestling, catch up on the latest news around the Academy, and order dinner from their favorite restaurant, The Solar Jazz Cafe'. Jim wasn't much in the mood for any of it, and his friends understood. They'd all had a bad experience with a girl before. Jim was a bit more distracted by a girl today than usual. Out of all the 5 girls he had asked out so far, 3 denied him, and the others only lasted about 2 weeks each. But when denied, he had never heard this excuse before, "...I only go for attractive guys."

'Am I not attractive?' he thought. 'Do other girls think that? Oh crap... if they didn't I bet they do now; she probably told all her friends about me and her friends have probably told more girls and by now the word has spread that Jim Hawkins isn't date material and no girl will ever want to go out with me again and I'll probably end up dying alone!! ...Okay I am totally exaggerating here, but still! Jeez, the way I can scare myself...'

All the while Jim was having his freak out moment in his head, he was still aware of everything going on around him. It was 'Pizza Wednesday'. Matt and Zach were having an arm wrestling contest, (a couple of the guys placed bets on who'd win), about 8 of the others were playing poker, and the rest were either making up some new contest to occupy themselves until dinner arrived or they were catching up with the latest gossip around them, and the latest was Jim's rough night. Just then, there was a knock at the door. Noticing Jake walking over to answer it, Jim lazily watched to see who it was (everyone was getting hungry so pretty much the whole room's attention was on the door). As Jake opened the door he and the others saw a person in a delivery uniform, carrying a stack of 7 pizza boxes. The face was hidden behind the enormous stack so no one was sure if it was a guy or a girl, until a voice came:

"Umm, a little help...please? These are kinda startin' to burn!" she said quickly.

"Yeah, hang on a sec." said Jake while grabbing 3 boxes off the top of the stack.

As soon as he grabbed them he knew what she was talking about. He hurriedly walked over to closest table and set them down.

"Damn, these are hot! Hey someone get the rest!" he called out to the room.

Half of the guys saw that Alex was already on it and they started over to the table where the first 3 pizzas had been set. Alex removed the other 4 boxes from the delivery girl and quickly went to a table that wasn't so crowded with teenage guys with big appetites. The delivery girl's face was now revealed and Jim noticed that she was pretty cute. She was dressed in a navy blue delivery uniform; her red hair pulled back into a pony-tail that hung out the back of her cap. Even in a delivery uniform it was obvious this girl was attractive. But this only made Jim start to think again.

'Whoa! Check her out! Oh, but wait a sec...the girl from last night was a babe too, and look how that ended up. Not to mention my 2 denials before her. Why should this girl be any different? Maybe I should stay away from cute girls for a while...'

With that Jim turned his head, still leaning on his arm, to the window and watched the sun slowly start to set. Because his head was turned he didn't noticed a few guys go up to the girl.

"So you're our new delivery girl, huh?" asked Luke.

"Yeah, I guess so," said the girl.

"What happened to Marty?" said Bobby.

"He got a promotion and I got stuck with his old job. Name's Cali."

"I'm Luke. This is Bobby and Caden" he said pointing to the guys beside him.

He put a hand on her back and gently pushed her a few steps more into the room.

"And these are the guys!!" as Luke said this aloud, everyone in the room turned their attention to the front, even Jim. "Guys this is Cali, our new delivery girl!"

"CALIII!!!!" the room cheered as majority of the guys raised their pizzas to her.

This was the usual welcome 'The Rowdy Crowd' gave to new comers and people they knew. It was their thing: to treat others with respect and make them feel at home. Though what else would you expect from people via the Interstellar Academy? Cali had to laugh when she saw alot of the guys shout her name with a mouth full of pizza. Jim wasn't even in the mood to give Cali a warm welcome. He figured it'd just be a waste of time if he didn't even have a shot with her. When all of the other guys shouted her name, Jim just refocused his attention to the sunset. Cali (of course) noticed this. Alex had come up to her and given her a welcoming hand shake while the others went back to eating and joking around. She returned the handshake with a smile then refocused her attention to Jim. Curious, she leaned over to Alex an asked softly, motioning her head toward Jim:

"What's wrong with that guy?"

"Who? Jim? Oh don't worry about him. He's just moping over some girl."

"What happened? He get dumped?"

"Denied. The girl basically said he wasn't attractive."

"Oooh, harsh much." said Cali, starting to feel sorry for the young man who across the room.

"Tell me about it. But he'll get over it by the weekend tops."

"Wait…so this has happened before?"

He shrugged, "Once or twice. Plus, I'm his best friend; I'm supposed to know these things, right?"

Cali shrugged and smiled.

"Well, don't be a stranger." Alex gave her the money for the pizzas plus a tip.

Cali thanked him, but instead of walking out the door, she found herself walking towards Jim. One look at him and she could tell he wasn't the sort of guy that deserved to be treated like that; she'd taught herself to know the difference. As she came closer to Jim, she started thinking of what she could say or do to make him feel just a bit better. Jim heard someone come closer to him but wasn't sure who it was. Thinking it was one of his friends he kept his gaze at the sunset. Cali stopped at the end of the table and spoke up to get his attention.

"Hey." she said lightly.

Jim was surprised to hear a girl's voice instead of a guy's. He looked at the reflection in the window and saw a red headed girl with a blue cap standing behind him. He sped his body around to get a better look. He noticed it was the delivery girl. Closer up, Jim was able to see her emerald green eyes, and it occurred to him that he would classify her more as beautiful than just plain cute. Still...there was a good chance that she'd be one of the shallow ones. Jim's enthusiasm lowered after just half a second of this thought, but not wanting to come off as rude, he returned the greeting:

"Hey..." he said, lowering his gaze to this table.

"I, uh, heard you had a rough day yesterday...I'm sorry..." she tried to sound as sincere as possible and sat down across from him.

"Great, it's already spreading..." he muttered, his gaze still at the table.

"Huh?"

"(sigh) nothing...just thinking out loud…"

Cali chuckled slightly but saw on Jim's expression that it wasn't helping.

"Uh..hey, don't let what that girl said mess with ya. I mean, what does she know, right?"

"(another sigh) ...whatever.." said Jim, as if her words meant nothing.

Feeling like this was going no where, Cali decided it was time to get back to work.

"Well, I hope your day gets better."

She stood up from the table and turned to leave, but she didn't want to leave without accomplishing anything. She wanted to give him something...but what? Suddenly it dawned on her of what could be just the thing to lift his spirits. She thought that a guy like that deserved one anyway. She turned around and saw that Jim had not changed his position. She took a step closer, bent down next to him, and kissed him on the cheek. With that she headed for the door. Well this perked Jim up! He lifted his head in slight shock and looked in the direction Cali was walking. Maybe his accusations about her were wrong. Maybe she was different than the others. Jim called after her to stop her from leaving. He wasn't sure what he was going to say, but he at least wanted an explanation, not that he was complaining.

"Hey! Wait a sec!" he called running up to her. He was able to stop her at the door, "What was that for?"

"You looked like you needed some luck," she said simply, then winked, "See ya around."

As the door closed behind her, Jim was left standing there and all he could mutter out was:

"Bye..."

When Jim finally turned around he saw that everyone was staring at him. Then an outbreak of laughter and roots and cheers for him came about. A bunch of the guys came up to him and punched him in the arm, hit him on the back, and gave him high fives. Needless to say Jim's day (and week for that matter) brightened up.


	2. unexpected

As always I do not own Treasure Planet, just my OCs.

I thought I'd make an attempt to add some action to this P.O.S. so...here ya go.

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Jim's week actually got better (imagine that). He focused better in his classes and his spirits were up pretty much the rest of the week. He wanted to see her again, so that Friday night he and the guys went to the Solar Jazz Cafe' for dinner, but when Jim asked if he could speak to Cali, the bartender said she was off doing deliveries and wouldn't be done 'til closing time.

" sigh well, thanks anyway..." said Jim.

"Hey wait a minute, is your name Jim?" asked the bartender.

"Yeah, why?"

"Cali wanted me to give this to you incase you came by tonight."

He held out a small, white, cardboard box with a note attached to it. Jim quickly took the box from him and immediately began unfolding the note and reading it. It read:

Jim,

just incase the kiss didn't work, this is my good luck charm.

it seems like you need it more than i do.

Cali

p.s. we should get together sometime and hang out. see ya around.

Jim set the note down on the bar counter and opened the box. Inside he found a relatively long, thin, silver necklace chain with a small silver ring on it. He studied the gift for a moment when one of his friends came up to him and said that they were headin' back to the dorms. Jim said he'd be with them in a second and began putting the necklace around his neck. It fit pretty good. He took the ring and raised it into his view and smiled. One of the guys called at Jim and told him to hurry up.

"Alright I'm comin'!" he called back.

He let the ring fall back down to his neck and started running to catch up with his friends.

Back at his dorm, Jim lay in his bed wide awake, staring at the ceiling. He looked at the holo-clock on his nightstand next to his bed. 2:00 a.m. it read. He looked over at Sam, his roommate, to see if he was asleep. He was, and Sam was a heavy sleeper, which gave Jim a great chance to sneak out... again. The Academy was always guarded at night to prevent anyone from doing just that. The curfew was 11:00 p.m. for all students and sneaking out was strictly prohibited; but since when has the law ever stopped Jim? He quietly got out of bed, put on a shirt, a pair of pants, his boots, then, carefully and silently, opened the window to their room. He stuck his head outside and looked around to see if any of the guards were looking in his direction. There was one guard below him, but he was pretty much oblivious to Jim's existence at the moment, but Jim knew that the tiniest bit of noise from him would attract attention; so as always he had to be careful. There was a long, sturdy vine near the window that ran along the wall from the ground to the roof of the academy. Jim's dorm was on the third floor of the 4 story building (another reason to be careful). He hopped up on the window sill, stood up, leaned on the wall, quietly closed the window, and edged his way over to the vine. He nearly slipped once, but after regaining balance and making sure the guard had not heard him, he continued on. Once he reached the vine, he climbed on and began making his way up. On the roof now, Jim headed to the top, flat surface and sat down looking up at the stars. This was Jim's spot. Right here. It had a perfect view of the night sky and no one else knew about it. He came here when he couldn't sleep, and tonight was one of those nights. The view of the stars always seemed to give off a calming effect, so whatever his troubles, he could always come here and just let the stars take away the pain and frustration. Jim let out a deep, soft sigh. He started thinking of when Cali gave him that kiss. He thought about what she said, "It looked like you needed some luck."

'What did she mean by 'It looked like...'? Did I really look that helpless? I mean I know I probably looked depressed but, was I really...? And was that the only reason she kissed me? Was it out of pity? And what about this necklace? Does she really think I need that much help? AND WHY THE HECK AM I ASKING MYSELF SO MANY QUESTIONS??!!!'

Jim looked back up at the stars and calmed down. He took a deep breath and let out a big sigh.

'Why the heck am I stressing over a girl I barely even know anyway? Honestly... I only know her first name. That's it, that's all I know about her... Well, okay she is cute...and sweet…and outgoing... Gah, Jim would you listen to yourself? Snap out of it! Man, I just...need to clear my head.'

Jim closed his eyes, his head still tilted towards the stars. He took another deep breath as he felt a breeze blow through his short cut hair. But this relaxing moment was interrupted by loud noises coming from the other side of the roof. Jim opened his eyes and turned in the direction of the noise. He positioned himself so the he could slide down the slanted part of the roof and stop easily when needed. He squatted down and set one arm against the surface of the roof and the other held out for balance. The noises sounded like they were getting closer to the building. He started his slide down and stopped just before the roof went from a slant to a straight, flat angle. He got down on his hands and knees and crawled forward just enough to look over the side of the roof and see exactly what was going on without being seen. The guards seemed to be occupied with something more important because there were none around. He saw 4 people; one was a girl, the other 3 were guys; one was human, the others were aliens. The girl had her back facing the side of the building that was underneath Jim. Because of this position, he could only see the top of her red head, but he could make out the 3 guys' faces pretty well. They looked to be about his age. The human wore spiky, punk colored hair; one alien looked to be an ocratan: a bald, green-skinned being with four eyes and a lizard-like tale; the other was a baskas: a brown, furry creature with fox-like ears. The 3 were standing side by side facing the girl, taking a few steps closer to her every so often. As they did this, she took a step or two back closer to the wall.

"Ye made us look like fools back there, Missy." said the one in the middle, "Ye at least owe us 'n _apology_."

"I don't owe you anything!" she snapped.

"Ye took away our dignity!!" he shouted, then lowered his voice to a stern level, "And it's all fair ye return the faver."

"Yea!" said the other 2 in unison.

"I don't know what the hell you're talkin' about, you freaks didn't need any help with makin' fools outta yourselves; you did a great job of that on your own." she said with a smirk, "Besides, you deserved what hap..."

"Shut up!!" he yelled, cutting her off, "Yer goin' to repay us, willingly...or by force."

The 3 creeps came closer to the girl, but she wasn't missing a single step that they took. They saw that she was prepared and stopped about 15 feet away from her. The one human was apparently the 'leader' of the trio because he was making all of the decisions. For a while they just glared at the girl, as she glared back. The 'leader' nudged the ocratan to make a move, which he did. He ran forward while charging up his right arm for, what looked to be, a punch. The girl was ready for this; what she wasn't ready for was the small pocket-laser-knife he had hidden in his fist. She had finally noticed it when he was just about to strike. He had almost gotten to her collar bone with the laser-knife before she caught his fist and stopped him from going any further. She struggled a bit but was able to push him away from her. As she did he jumped back with her push and pushed off of his feet as soon as he landed, then charged again. This time she was ready for him. When he swung to attack again, she gave a turn-kick and knocked the laser-knife from his hand. The ocratan backed off for a moment, holding his hand. He snarled and charged at her with a real punch this time; blocked. He swung again with his other fist; blocked. It seemed every punch he was throwing at her was getting blocked. He tried to surprise her by swooping his tail at her feet to knock her down, but she managed to jump over it. When she landed, she started throwing punches at him. He blocked her first two shots but missed her uppercut into his jaw. She started kick-boxing him in the face and gut, and after about the fifth kick he was down. He lay on the ground, face up, with the breath knocked out of him. The girl looked up at the 2 other creeps who, along with Jim, were watching in amazement. The leader looked to the baskas as if he were stupid.

"What are ye waiting for?!" he said angrily, "Get in there!"

Before the lackey knew it, his leader had shoved him into the 'ring'. He caught his balance and started throwing punches and kicks at the girl, most of which she blocked. On his last punch she grabbed hold of the guy's wrist, twisted his arm behind his back and roughly pushed him up against the wall. She held his other arm above him in firm grip so he was pinned. He began to cry out in pain as she kept pushing the guy's arm up further behind his back. The girl began to smile when she heard this. She was having fun. She liked the thought of her being able to take on 3 guys by herself. But the fun was short-lasted as she felt a sharp pain hit the back of her head. It didn't knock her out but it was enough to make her blackout and release her grip of the baskas. Once she had fallen to the ground, her sight was starting to come back and she looked up to find that the leader had thrown a rock around the size of a baseball at her head while her back was turned. The guy that was on the ground had caught his breath and as soon as he saw her hit the ground he got up and ran to her. The 2 lackeys were on either side of her now; they grabbed one arm each and roughly lifted her to her feet and pinned her to the wall with both arms over her head. She struggled to get free but it was no use, they had a firm grip on her. The leader walked up to her and punched her in the mouth, giving her a bloody lip. As she lifted her head to face him again she heard him begin to talk.

"Ye know," he began, "This whole mess could've been easily avoided if ye'd just cooperated. We could've had some fun."

"I already had my fun." she said smirking.

"Shut up!" he shouted.

He kneed her in the stomach hard enough to get her gasping for air and cough up a bit of blood. When Jim saw the blood, he knew she was hurt bad. He couldn't let this go on any further.

"Payback time, Missy." said the leader

Just as he was about to molest her, Jim jumped off of the roof and landed right behind him. This caught everyone by surprise. The leader then paused where he was as he felt something being pointed at the back of his head. Jim was standing directly behind him, so the object was hidden from everyone's sight but Jim's; but they all had a pretty good guess of what it was when the leader lifted his hands in the air, saying:

"Don't shoot..." in a kind of wimpy voice.

"Well, that all depends on you and your lackeys, now doesn't it?" Jim said as he cocked his weapon.

"Aaah!" the leader yelled when he heard it, "No, no, no, no, please, we'll do anything you say! Just don't shoot! Pleeeeeaaaassseee!" he whined.

Both Jim and the girl cocked an eyebrow at him. Suddenly the girl fell to the ground as the lackeys released her to get into the begging position and started begging along with him.

"Pleeeaaassee!!" they cried in unison.

'Pathetic' thought the girl and Jim.

"sigh alright, I'll make you a deal," said Jim, "If you idiots get outta my sight by the time I count to 10, I'll let you live. And I'll start...at 9."

Gasping in unison, the trio started running as fast as they could away from Jim, not even brave enough to look back. The girl watched as they ran off like the jack-asses they were, then she turned her attention to her 'savior'. Jim looked back at her then at his weapon, it was a flintlock-pistol. The girl watched closely as she saw the pistol start to move all on its own. Then, in the blink of an eye, the pistol swirled, turned pink, and grew eyes to reveal a protoplasmic, pink blob. The blob began to laugh along with Jim.

"Heh, were you even loaded?" he smiled.

The blob shook its head and began to laugh some more. Jim chuckled and turned his attention to the girl. She was sitting on the ground with her back against the wall. She had her right knee up and the other on the ground. She leaned forward with her right arm across her knee and wiped her bloody lip with her left hand. Jim went over to her to offer help.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine." she said looking away.

Jim bent down to get a closer look at her face, but she kept it tilted down so her long, red hair would cover it enough to hide her identity. She barely looked up at him and noticed something dangling from his neck; a silver necklace with a small silver ring attached.

"Hey, that's my... wait a sec.., Jim?" she said looking up at his face. When she did Jim could clearly see who it was.

"Cali?"

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soooo??? what'd ya think??? c'mon u know u wanna tell me how crappy it was! XD


	3. Swopin' Stories

Again, me no own teh loverly Treasure Planet or any of its original characters. Me only own my OCs.

Just a chapter where Jim and Cali get a bit closer. To put it simply. If you want more details you can either pay me in gold drubloons or read the freakin chapter!

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"Cali?" he asked, surprised to see her, as she was likewise.

"Heh, what're the odds, huh?" said Cali with a small wince, trying to hide the pain.

"Yeah," Jim answered, "This is so weird, I-" he stopped when he noticed her lip was still bleeding a bit, she had a cut on her arm, and she was obviously in pain. "Here, the Academy's got a first-aid-building right around the corner…" he said and offered her his hand.

"Jim, really, it's just a scratch. I'm fine." she said wiping her lip and trying to stand up by herself.

She leaned against the wall for support and got to her feet, but almost as soon as she did she felt a sharp pain in her stomach left over from the fight. She gripped it and nearly fell forward to the ground when Jim stepped in and caught her. He put her arm around his neck to hold her up.

"Pfft, yeah, you look it." he commented with a smirk, "C'mon, it's not like it's gonna kill ya." he said, looking at her with sincere yet determined, blue eyes.

"sigh fine..." she said, seeing that it was pointless to argue with him (and she was too weak to argue).

She let him walk her to the first-aid-building, while Morph followed behind. When they reached the small building they found that the entrance door was locked. Jim turned to Morph.

"Hey, Morph, think you can handle this?" he asked.

In response Morph chirped a "No problem." and changed into an exact replica of the key to the lock. Jim took the 'key' and unlocked the door; when the door was open, Morph changed back and followed the two teens inside. Once inside Jim set Cali down on a medical bed while he went over to the sink and wet a rag for her blood-stained lip. Cali waited quietly for him; just looking around to get a familiarity of the room. It looked similar to the ones back home. She turned to Jim when he came over. He began cleaning her lip off with a wet rag, but Cali didn't want him to think of her as a damsel in distress so she took the rag from him and cleaned her lip herself. Jim shrugged it off and went over to a shelf which held many bandages, creams, and other materials used for dressing wounds. He grabbed a bandage roll, a gauze pad, and a wet rag and returned to Cali. He began wiping the blood that had been running slightly down her arm with the rag. Jim figured the cut was from the ocratan's laser-knife. It wasn't very deep but it still needed to be bandaged. Cali knew she couldn't do this one by herself, so her only choice was to sit and watch. As Jim dressed her wound, she couldn't help but think it odd that he was even helping her in the first place. She had never known a guy who would willingly help her like he was. Then again Jim didn't know her as well as the others. Apparently her thoughts were showing somewhat on her face because when Jim had finished with her arm he glanced up, caught her stare and was bemused.

"What?" he asked with a bit of a cracked voice.

"Nothing..." she began, "It's just...why are you doing all this? I mean I appreciate the help 'n' all, don't get me wrong, but most guys… would have just looked the other way."

"Well, I'm not most guys."

"Well, heck, I coulda told ya that," she joked.

"Hey, don't make fun of your hero," he laughed back.

"Hero? Pfft! You call pointing a fake-," she stopped and thought about the blob that was Jim's gun earlier, and then looked over to Morph who was playing with a wind chime that was hung in the room for decoration, "By the way, what the heck _is_ that thing?" she asked in curiosity.

"What? Morph? He's a…well he's a morph. He can change into pretty much anything. Here, I'll show ya. Morph," he called to the pink blob, who flew to him happily, "Wanna show Cali what you can do?"

Morph showed his biggest smile and flew up into Cali's face. Cali cocked an eyebrow at the creature, waiting to see what he'd do. Morph then changed into a mini-version of Cali and imitated every move she made.

"Whoa!" she said smiling, "He's incredible!"

"Incredible!" Morph repeated, which made Cali laugh.

A second later Morph shifted into a beautiful lily just make Cali like him even more, which seemed to work. He turned back into himself and started nuzzling up against her cheek. She giggled a little and removed him from her cheek to pet him. Jim watched her smile down at Morph as he made his cutest chirps. Jim smiled at her, thinking how different she was from other girls. He thought about how she fought, he had never seen...anyone fight like that before. She didn't need anything but her hands and feet. He thought about how she had flipped one of her opponents, he decided that was his favorite part of the whole fight. Then, he thought about the 3 creeps who attacked her in the first place.

"Hey, who were those jerks that attacked you tonight, anyway?" asked Jim.

"Oh, they're just a couple of jack-asses. They like to act they're all bad ass like pirates. They'll sometimes even put on an Irish accent 'cause they think all pirates talk like that. But an infant could tell it's a piece of crap."

"Heh, got the right." Jim smirked, "So, why were they chasin' you?" he asked.

"I made 'em look like idiots in front of everybody." said Cali simply.

Jim laughed, "Really? How?" he couldn't wait to hear this story.

"Well, I was working the bar when they came in. They sat down beside these little valley girls, you know, the gullible kind, and they started actin' like they were all brave and started talkin' crap about how they've been everywhere, fought many battles, and risked their lives many times. It was so completely obvious that they were lying." Cali rolled her eyes at the thought of the scene, "And the girls were all like 'ooooh' and 'aaah'." as she imitated the girls from the bar, Jim couldn't help but laugh. "I was gettin' sick of it and so was everyone else. So, Biron, my boss, came up behind me and slipped a big, fake spider in my hand. I swear all I did was set it on the counter when the-head-jerk wasn't looking and asked him if he wanted anything to drink. When he turned to answer me, and saw that spider, he flipped out! I mean he took it way over the top. He started screamin' like a little girl and fell out of his stool, takin' his lackeys to the ground with him. Their beers spilled all over them and everyone was laughing at 'em; it was priceless!" she grinned at the thought of it and laughed a bit herself. "Anyway, they got up and gave me this 'evil eye' glare and walked out. They must have waited for me until my shift was over 'cause when I walked out they almost immediately began following me." Cali then shrugged her shoulders as if to say "and you know the rest".

"Man, that makes me want to come to the bar every night." Jim laughed.

"Haha, good. Biron says we could use more customers. Just don't expect me to get you any free food." she said.

Jim chuckled some and then the room went silent. After a while of avoiding awkward glances at each other, as if there was nothing else to talk about, Cali spoke up.

"So uh, do _you _have any stories to tell?" she asked.

"Well...there is this one, but you probably know all about it by now. I mean it was 3 years ago."

"What's it about?"

"The time I found Treasure Planet."

"...Treasure... Planet..?" asked Cali confused.

"Don't tell me you've never heard of it..!" Jim said, arching an eyebrow at her.

Cali simply shrugged.

"Okay. this might take a while.."

"I've got time."

"Well," Jim began, "I guess it all started when I saw this ship crash outside..."

And so, Jim told her about the amazing journey he took to Treasure Planet, including every detail he could remember. Cali's eyes would widen when he went into detail about every high action part of the trip, she understood his pain when he described being blamed for the death of Mr. Arrow, and when Jim looked straight into her eyes and repeated Silver's healing words...she felt as though they were being said to her. She was shocked with anger when Jim came to the part of Silver's mutiny, but was touched that Silver still had a heart when he saved Jim's life, and nearly got choked up herself when the father-son-like duo had to part.

"Do you think you'll ever see him again?" asked Cali out of curiosity.

"...I don't know... I hope so." Jim replied.

"Well if you do, make sure I'm there with you. I wanna meet this guy."

Jim smirked "Will do."

It was sunrise now, the tiniest bit of light was starting to peak over the horizon. Cali and Jim noticed the light coming in from the windows and stood to stretch. Cali laughed lightly when she saw Morph snoozing on the side of the couch; he had fallen asleep during the story. Cali turned to Jim and pointed at Morph with her thumb saying:

"That'll be me in about 15 minutes."

"Haha, yeah…didn't realize how late it got," he said looking out the window

"Late? Heh, don't ya mean early?" she joked.

He grinned, "Guess so. What time is it anyway?"

"Um," Cali looked around for a clock but found none, "Time for bed." her voice was getting groggier by the minute.

"Yeah," Jim agreed, "Thank God it's Saturday, I can sleep in."

Cali laughed. As she looked at him she couldn't stop smiling for some reason. She didn't even know she was smiling until Jim turned around and gave her a look.

"What?" he asked.

Realizing what she was doing she snapped out of her daze, "Oh, uh, nothing, nothing."

Jim smiled and walked over to Morph. He tapped him a little to wake him.

"Hey, Morph, wake up. Time to go." he said softly.

The little pink blob opened his eyes, yawned and flew onto Jim's shoulder. Jim turned to Cali and asked if she needed any help walking home.

"Thanks, but uh, I think I'll be ok." she gave him a wink and a grin and started out the door.

Jim followed and met her outside. Cali looked her way and Jim looked his.

Remembering something he had meant to ask earlier, Jim turned to Cali, "By the way, I only know you as 'Cali.' Got a last name?"

"Sorry, nothing personal but, ya gotta earn it." she smirked.

"What? I already saved your butt back there; what more-?"

"You didn't save me," she interrupted, "You…were a distraction." she said, trying to sound as convincing as possible.

"Pfft, whatever." murmured Jim.

Cali rolled her eyes and starred off into the distance. There was a moment of silence and then:

"Hey, Jim..?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

They were lost in each other's eyes for a moment when Cali felt a sudden flash of embarrassment cross her face. She shook her head slightly to rid herself of the feeling and cleared her throat.

"Well, g'night." she grinned.

"Don't you mean 'good morning'?" he joked.

"Oh, you're funny." she said with a bit of sarcasm.

He smiled and shrugged, "Yeah, well…"

"Heh, see ya around." she said breaking the eye connection.

"Bye." he replied and watched as she walked away.

Jim smiled and turned in his own direction. Once in his dorm room, he made sure to shut the door as quietly as possible so he wouldn't wake Sam. He walked over to his bed and sat down, taking off his boots. He removed his shirt but decided to leave his pants on; he was too tired to care that much. He lay down, pulled the covers over him, closed his eyes and gave a sigh of comfort.

Guess who was on his mind.

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blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!! review plzzz!!! even if it's not much. i don't care. just say something. anything. no cursing plzz tho.


	4. First Date

Okay, I'll keep it short: anything from T.P. not mine!

Enjoy!

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'Noon...? I think that's a new record.' he thought.

Jim had been sleeping since around 5:00 am. The night before was a long one. Yet, it went by so fast. He kind of regretted not asking Cali more about herself. He didn't even get her last name, not that it was his fault. He sat up in his bed and rubbed his eyes. He looked over at his roommate's bed; it was empty. Sam always was an early riser. Jim sat there for a minute or two, starring in a daze, thinking about the events from the night before. He gave a small smile when he thought about Cali's story...and her laugh. Morph then flew up into his face and snapped him back to reality. He was whining that he was hungry; complete with a gurgling stomach and starving eyes.

Jim couldn't help but laugh at this sight, "Alright, Morph. Let me get dressed and we'll go down to mess hall and get some food. Sound good?" Morph gave him a big nod and smile in reply.

Down in the mess hall, Morph was scarfing down his meal while Jim had hardly touched his. He was lost in his own mind again; thinking about how he could prove to Cali that he was trust worthy of at least knowing her last name. Just then, someone interrupted his thoughts with a, "Hey, Jim!" Jim looked up to see one of his best friends, Alex.

"Oh, hey Alex…" he said with a low tone.

"Well that's a fine hello." said Alex kind of offended.

"Sorry, I was kinda hopin' you were someone else."

"Oh? Who?"

"Well, you remember that girl who delivered our pizzas the other day?"

"Cali? Oooooh! Got a thing for her, huh?" Alex teased.

Jim just shrugged in response and looked down at his food; which he was still poking at.

"What? You havin' problems with her something?" asked Alex trying to figure out what was wrong with him.

"No, not _with_ her...it's just... I wanna do something for her, but I don't know what."

"Well, what do you know about her?"

Jim sighed, "Not much… She won't even tell me her last name; said I have to earn it."

"Does she not trust you or somethin'?"

Jim cocked an eyebrow at him, "What was your first clue?"

"Hey, don't lose your cool on me. I'm only tryin' to help."

Jim sighed, "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry. I'm just…baffled about this whole thing. I don't wanna screw things up with this girl…she's not like the others."

"Whoo, man have you got it bad. Never seen you act like this about a girl."

"Yeah, well Cali's definitely different. We haven't gone on one date and she's already giving me stuff."

Jim held up the ring connected to the necklace for Alex to see. Alex studied the shiny, silver piece of jewelry. He seemed to like it.

"She said it was her good luck charm, but apparently I need it more." Jim continued.

Alex laughed, "That's impressive. She can read you like a book."

"Shut up." said Jim, tucking the necklace back under his shirt.

"Well, she gave you something personal, so give her something of yours."

"Like what? I don't have anything personal."

"Then I guess you're S.O.L." joked Alex.

Jim gave him a look, "Thanks. That's _real_ helpful."

Alex noticed that Jim wasn't in the mood for jokes right now, so he got serious. "Look, there's only about 6 weeks left 'til Christmas; wait 'til then and get to know her better." Alex checked his watch, "Well, I gotta go. Let me know how it all works out." And with that, Alex said his goodbyes and left.

Jim turned to Morph and gave him a questioning look; to which Morph just shrugged. Later that afternoon, Jim went to the Solar Jazz Cafe' to see if Cali was there. She was. She was working the bar again. Jim watched her for a minute as she twirled bottles in her hands right before she served them to the customers; as though she were a professional. Impressed, Jim walked over to her and asked the obvious question:

"Where'd you learn that?"

"Long time ago." she grinned, "So what's up?"

"Well," Jim cleared his throat, "I was uh…I was kinda wonderin'...um," he stammered, "Well, would you…like to do something…sometime...with me?" the way it sounded to him, Jim wanted to slap himself.

She cocked an eyebrow at him and gave a smirk, "You're asking me out?"

"Maybe…"

She grinned, "Okay."

"R-Really? Great!" Jim's voice cracked a little but he quickly cleared hoping she hadn't noticed. "I mean uh, cool. So where would you like to go?"

Cali chuckled, "Smooth," she teased, "Meet me back here at 7:30. Oh, and uh, don't dress up."

"Okay…"

Jim returned to the bar at 7:30 that night; just as instructed. He sat at the bar drinking a Lunar shake, waiting patiently for Cali's shift to end. After a minute or two Cali came out pulling her hair back into a ponytail. She walked over to the apron-rack and hung up her apron, then made her way to Jim. She was dressed about as casual as he was: an forest-green tank, brown cargo pants, and black boots.

"Ready to go?" she asked walking out of the restaurant.

Jim nodded in response and followed her out, "So where exactly are we going?"

"You'll see." she said with a grin.

They walked a couple miles outside of town; making small talk along the way. She then led Jim into the woods. It was sunset, so the light made it easier to see. It was another half-mile until they reached their destination: a beautiful lagoon complete with a 30-foot waterfall that spilled into a 10-foot-deep pond, and willow trees that surrounded half the place.

"Whoa…" said Jim amazed by his surroundings, "Hard to imagine a place like this would exist out here. How'd you find it?"

Cali was silent a moment before answering. She sat down beside a nearby willow, "I… had a bad night." she began, "Everything seemed to be going wrong all at once and… it felt like I couldn't breathe…" Jim sat down beside her as she took in a deep breath and continued, "I just I had to get away. So I ran out of town, as far as my legs could carry me." She paused and looked up at the waterfall. She took in all of her surroundings as if it were the night she'd first discovered it. Jim gazed along with her as he patiently waited to hear more. "No one knows about this place," said Cali, "I come here whenever I need a breather."

Jim looked at Cali, puzzled by her last statement. "So this place is pretty special to you, huh?"

"Yeah, it is." she replied, still admiring the scenery.

"Then…why share it with me?"

Cali looked at him with a somewhat serious face. "Can I trust you?"

"Yeah, of course." replied Jim, a little surprised she asked the question.

"Good." said Cali, redirecting her attention to the scenery and not saying another word.

Jim grinned softly and turned his attention the sky, where the stars were beginning to show. He leaned back against his hands and stretched his legs out in front of him. Cali had her knees up to her chest, no which she folded her arms. They were both silent for a few moments. Cali looked up at the cliff where the waterfall began.

"C'mon." she said standing.

"What?" replied Jim, still sitting, staring at her.

"Just follow me."

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R&R plzzz! even if you thought it was crappy. just let me know


	5. Harmless Fun

Holy crap it's been forever! Sorry guys! Too much crap's been goin on. . 

Enjoy/)

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Treasure Planet, only Cali/my OC's.

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"C'mon." she said standing.

"What?" replied Jim, still sitting, staring up at her.

"Just follow me."

Jim watched her walk off a bit before deciding that he didn't have much of a choice. He got to his feet and followed her to the rock wall beside the waterfall. "You up for some rock climbing?" asked Cali. At first he thought she was joking, but then he noticed that one of her hands was already on the wall. It then occurred to him that Alex was right; he really did like her…a lot. Jim had never met any girl as outgoing and spontaneous as Cali. Pretty much all the other girls he knew weren't interested in getting their hands dirty. A grin formed on his face as he answered, "Sure."

As Cali started climbing she warned Jim that some of the rocks and foot holes had moss on them since the wall was so close to the waterfall. She told him to make sure that he used the same foot holes and grooves that she used. He waited until she was about three feet above him before he began. So far they didn't have any problems. They had been climbing for about five minutes before Cali reached the top. She pulled herself over the edge and looked down to check on Jim. He looked like he was doing alright; he was close to the top. But then he paused. He couldn't remember which foot hole Cali had used at this spot. The darkness of the night wasn't much help either, even with the full moon. Jim looked up and saw that Cali was watching him.

"Where did you put your foot on this part?" asked Jim.

"In the groove just above your right foot." she replied.

Jim nodded, but when he placed his foot where he thought was the right spot, it slipped and lost its grip. This caught him by surprise and caused him to lose his grip on his right hand. He was now barely holding himself up by his left hand and foot. Cali's heart skipped a beat.

"Whoa! No, no, no, no!" she yelled quickly, "Hang on!"

'Like I have a choice.' thought Jim.

Jim was afraid that if he attempted to place his right foot or hand back on the wall, he would find more moss and slip completely off of the cliff. The only things he could trust at the moment were his left limbs and Cali's directions. Cali had to hurry and guide Jim on his next move before his left limbs lost their grip. But she needed to calm herself down first; acting in a panic wouldn't help anyone. Lying on her stomach, she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. As she exhaled, she opened her eyes just as Jim called to her.

"Hey Cal, I could use some help right about now!"

"Okay," she began, leaning her arm over the side to help direct his movements. "Carefully place your right hand about two feet directly across from your left. That spot should be dry."

"Alright." said Jim breathily.

He gripped his left hand tighter around its rock for a better hold as he swung his right hand up to the wall. He positioned it as Cali had told him to. So far so good. He simply rested his right foot on the wall, making sure that he didn't put any pressure on it until further instruction; he didn't want another run in with more moss.

"Okay. Good." said Cali, thinking about Jim's next move. But now she wasn't so sure if she should even give him a next move. Her eyesight was as good as his in the dark. But she couldn't just leave him hanging there; he needed to get to the top…but how? Cali looked around her, trying to find something she could use to pull him up. Then her eyes caught sight of a thick vine a few feet away growing from the top of the cliff and hanging over the side. She told Jim to wait a minute, then ran over to the vine. Her eyes followed it over the edge where it hung off, it looked like it was close to touching the ground. Oh yeah, it was long enough. When she tried to pull it from the ground, however, the roots held firmly. It wouldn't budge. Cali was getting more frustrated by the minute. If the vine wouldn't tear from the ground, how would she get it to Jim? Then she thought of a new plan. She ran over to check on Jim. He was still hanging on for dear life.

"Jim," she called down, "See that vine over to your left?"

"Yeah." he replied.

"You're gonna use that climb up."

"But it's too far off. I can't reach it from here."

"I know, I'm gonna swing it to you."

Jim nodded in response. He watched as Cali ran over to the vine and swung it to him. It took a couple swings before the vine finally came into his reach. As he grabbed it, Cali told him to tie it around his waist as if it were his lifeline. Jim did as instructed, but in less time than Cali thought he would. She was impressed; after all he could only use one hand at a time. She decided to save that comment for a more appropriate time. When Jim finished, he had one hand on the vine and one on the wall. He looked up at Cali and waited for his next instructions.

"Alright," said Cali, after noticing Jim was ready, "Walk over to your left until you're right under the vine's roots. I'll meet you there."

Jim did as he was told. He let go of the wall, put his other hand on the vine, leaned back against it and carefully walked along the wall over to where the vine began. Cali watched and followed from above. She paused for a moment, thinking she heard a noise. Unable to locate where it came from, she pushed it aside. When she caught up to Jim at the vine's origin, she told him to go ahead and start climbing up. As he did, she kneeled down beside the vine's roots. The noise from before returned to her ear. And as she looked down, she noticed the roots were beginning to release their hold on the ground. It took Cali a moment to realize exactly what was going on, for she was beginning to get angry with the vine. Angry that now of all times it would decide to give out. All the while she was hating the vine, she noticed that with each pull that Jim made, the roots were being pulled more and more out of the ground, until they all at once came completely out. Cali cursed in her head as she dove for the vine. It all seemed to be going in slow motion. Jim looked as though he was in shock, like he had no idea what the hell just happened. It was barely a few seconds but he felt as though he had been falling forever. Then he felt a jerk from the vine. He looked up and saw Cali halfway over the side of the cliff, hanging on to Jim's "lifeline". For a moment all he could do was stare up at her, amazed that she could react so quickly.

"Thanks…" he managed to breathe out.

"Anytime." grunted Cali.

Both of Cali's feet were tucked slightly under a root sticking up arch-ways from the ground behind her. It was the only thing holding her and Jim. If her feet were to slip, well…she tried not to think about that right now. Her arms were starting to get tired; she had to get Jim up top and quick.

"Jim," she called down, "Start climbing."

"You sure you can hold me?" asked Jim, worried that if he were to move, it would make it even more difficult for Cali to hold on to the vine.

"Don't worry about that, just climb."

"But -"

"Just do it!" she yelled.

He blinked; he'd never heard her shout like that before. Although this wasn't really a time to act calm and rational. He began climbing. He tried to go fast but steady; he knew how hard this must have been for Cali. Every pull Jim made, made Cali grit her teeth. She swore her arms were going to end up five inches longer. But the slightest thought about Jim falling made her grip the vine even tighter. There was no way she was going to slip up again. He was getting closer to the top; he was almost within arm's reach. Cali began praying to the heavens that nothing bad would happen. As Jim grabbed the edge of the cliff, Cali let go of the vine, took his arm with one hand and the belt of his pants with the other and helped him over the cliff's edge. They lay there on the ground, both out of breath; Cali on her back, Jim on his stomach.

"Thanks." Jim said with a breath.

"Anytime." Cali breathed out.

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Well, there ya go. After many months there's the fifth chapter. It seemed alot longer when I was writing it... oh well. Hope you enjoyed it. Hopefully it won't take me half a year to write the next one.

R&R please.


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